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Still, at the end of each day, I was disappointed not to have heard his voice It see to pursue me harder but maybe he had already found a new distraction Of course, that would be a stress relief from a professional perspective--and should have been one I welcomed wholeheartedly--but I had to ad that had happened to me in a while Maybe ever

Finally, Friday rolled around When I got home, Riley told ame and asked me to join

I quickly pulled on a nice shirt and skinny jeans but took longer on thethe final touches in the bathroo her makeup

"So have you seen Vincent since Monday?" she said, touching up herisn’t until next Tuesday"

"Is he still into you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Coressive he’s being about it You get all flustered every ti"

"I’irls find him hot, and I’m sure he does really ith plenty of them But we have a professional relationship"

She blinked her eyes a few times and put her mascara away "Okay, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine But he’s into you and I know you know"

"Whatever Who are we loss and smacked her lips a few times "Jen and Steph They started at the same time I did I think you’ve met Jen"

Riley had a lot of friends froirl before even if I didn’t remember I was just happy to be off the subject of Vincent "I think so Are wetheo You ready?"

"You know I’o"

"After you doll"

The seats weren’t great, but they were cheap, and ht out, which was exactly what I needed We got popcorn and sodas and settled in, flirting lightheartedly with the guys in the row in front of us Jen and Steph were both fun and inclusive, fillingfrom work

The three of thee-Howser The work sounded less interesting from what Riley had told me, but at least the environment sounded fun

Ten minutes into the first quarter, we spotted ourselves on the Juh for us to wave and cheer enthusiastically It was funny how excited I was about soht I reflected on how good Riley was being towas absolutely perfect She often knehen I was upset and steered things to my comfort zone when I needed it--and I needed it as h she didn’t know all the details, she had a good idea of hoas feeling and wouldn’t push the subject further thanthe break between the first and second quarter, ere approached by a baldingthat indicated he was a member of the hospitality staff at Madison Square Garden "DAVE" touched his hand to his earpiece, then looked between me and Riley

"Excuse me, miss," he said to me, "are you Riley Hewitt?"

Startled, I pointed to my friend "No, that’s her," I said Riley turned to face Dave

"Ms Hewitt, you and your group have been upgraded to box seats, compliments of the house If you’ll follow me"

We all looked at each other in shock Did in so? When Dave indicated he didn’t know the details, only that he was theourselves "Why not?" was the verdict I’d never been in the box seats at MSG--they were super expensive--but it sounded like a blast After the craziness of the situation with Vincent,better by the h a private hallway to a double-doored suite Passing through the threshold, we stepped onto lush carpeting anda wall-sized TV displaying the gah snack food and drinks to stock a grocery store Ourus through a sliding glass entrance to a balcony He gestured to the rows of seats indicating we could watch the action live if we preferred but ere ht us back inside and clapped his hands together "That concludes the tour Any questions?"

"Are you sure this is all free?" Riley asked "Like you’re not going to charge ht?"

Dave sed but it isn’t you fine ladies, I assure you" After we indicated we had no further questions, he turned to leave but said, "I alot You’ll be joined later by some Knicks shareholders I promise, they’re wonderful corin on his face